New Delhi, Apr 17: A Delhi Court today began the trial of a ‘close aide’ of Hurriyat (G) leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and three others for allegedly running a Hawala racket to fund militant outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir.
 On the first day of hearing, District Judge (DJ) H S Sharma commenced the trial with recording of the statement of a formal prosecution witness and Delhi Police Inspector Kailash Singh Bisht of Special Cell.
 In his deposition, Bisht apprised the court of information on which accused were arrested.
 He deposed that Geelani's alleged close aide Ghulam Muhammad Bhat and three others, Muhammad Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga were arrested on a tip-off that they were raising funds for HM.
 Bisht said in last week of December 2010, they received the information that money was being sent from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir through Hawala channel following which a police team, constituted to probe the case, arrested the accused from J&K.
 The court recorded Bisht's statement and posted the matter for further recording of statement on Wednesday.
 The court had framed charges against all the four accused under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on March 3.
 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last year had filed the chargesheet against the four, indicting them for procuring over Rs 4.57 crore from Pakistan through Hawala channels within three years after 2008 for funding the militant activities in the Valley.
 The Special Cell of Delhi Police, on January 22 last year, had arrested Srinagar-based lawyer Bhat, Ganai, Liloo and Dagga from J&K on a tip-off that they were carrying Hawala money, allegedly meant for the militant outfit. It had also recovered Rs 21.20 lakh from them.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST